REVIEW: Uncanny X-Men #200

“The Trial of Magneto!”

Writer: Chris Claremont
Artists: John Romita, Jr. & Dan Green
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Review: Will "Identity Crisis" Dubbeld

Few things were as exciting to a young comics fan as the words, “double-sized Issue”. Years ago, Marvel’s double-sized issues were full of new content and meant some shit was gonna go down. Issue 25, 50, 75, 100, 125 and anything else in an increment of 25 promised a throwdown with Magneto or Apocalypse, some secrets about Weapon X, or a Green Goblin fracas.

I only acquired X-Men #200 recently but was always aware of its place in X-Men lore. There’s a lot to process in this issue, so let us begin...

The set dressing for this issue is, per the title, the trial of mutant supervillain/borderline terrorist Magneto after his arrest at the hands of Freedom Force.
A Parisian world court sees to his fate as he is defended by longtime X-supporting cast member Gabrielle Haller and prosecuted by Sir Jim Jaspers, a stereotypical British dickhead.

As an aside, the rampantly anti-mutant Jaspers appeared, albeit an alternate version thereof, in Alan Moore’s Crooked World storyline. "The Crooked World" (or Jaspers Warp) arc was an early ‘80s Captain Britain story involving an insane Jaspers as a reality-warping mutant. It also coined the term ‘616’ and introduced the Captain Britain Corps.   

REVIEW: Daredevil vol. 1 #193

Writer: Larry Hama
Penciler: Klaus Janson
Inker: Klaus Janson
Colorist: Klaus Janson
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Review: Madman

Every once in a while I have been known to throw down some cash on a few issues of old school Daredevil, especially the Frank Miller books. At last years Kokomo-Con I plucked this gem out of a dollar box towards the end of the day. Having spent my wad earlier in the day and only having a few Washington’s left; I was only able to evacuate two or three issues of DD out of the twenty or so issues that had no business being on the island of misfit comics.

Frank Miller handed over DD’s artistic reins to Klaus Janson eight issues prior, near issue #185 give or take, and if you want someone to replace a Frank Miller, a Klaus Janson will do just fine. I’m sure you’ve heard of Mr. Janson as he has had his meat hooks in just about everything a comic book artist could. Klaus also followed Miller to DC and helped out with some miniseries about Batman called The Dark Knight Returns…whatever that is.

The issues’ glorious cover is what made me choose this DD book over the others. It truly is magnificent on so many levels. It proudly displays Daredevil wielding an axe, and by axe I don’t mean Flying V guitar. I’m talking a Lizzie Andrew Borden parent choppin’ axe, not just any Lizzie Andrew Borden parent choppin’ axe, but a Lizzie Borden parent choppin’ axe that’s so sharp that the blade edge is gleaming with crosshairs. First of all, the artwork is fantastic. Second of all, why the hell is DD looking all psycho and menacing with said chopper, and by chopper I don’t mean… 

REVIEW: Spawn #10

Story: Dave Sim
Art: Todd McFarlane
Colors: Steve Oliff, Reuben Rude, and Olyoptics
Letters: Tom Orzechowski
Review: Art Bee

Spawn #10 is one of my favorite issues in the series and one of my most cherished of comics. It has little monetary value, but to me it is a classic that will always have a valuable spot in my memories.
This issue is a special collaboration between Dave Sim, creator of Cerebus, and Todd McFarlane. They have come together for a special message and an even more special slap. There will be more on this later.

This issue picks up right after the introduction of Angela and her confrontation with Spawn. At the end of #9, Angela has fled leaving behind her relic staff which Spawn unintelligently picks up and activates. This action whisks our beloved antihero to another plane of existence where he finds himself torn between his two halves: Al Simmons and Spawn. During this adventure, Spawn is constantly repeating the phrase, “I am not Spawn”. This is strange and confusing but it does make sense later. 

REVIEW: Showcase #61

Story: Gardner Fox
Art: Murphy Anderson
Review: Will Dubbeld

Okay, this didn’t come out of a dollar box.
It was more like a $7.99 box, but sue me. The Spectre is a favorite of mine, and I’ve always loved that cover.
What’s not to love about The Spectre walloping a big, fat, red Satan in the gut whilst being himself bonked over the head with the Earth?

I’ll wait...

In any case, Silver Age DC books run the gamut of quality. On one hand you’ve got Rainbow Batman fighting flying saucers over Gotham City and on the other books like Weird War Tales and Swamp Thing.
Rainbow Batman is cool and all, but also holds the dubious honor of being what I like to call Goofy as Shit.
All things to all men, I suppose, but I prefer my Batman a little less technicolor.

Silver Agers like Weird War Tales and Swamp Thing, though, are fantastic in an all-different way.
Along with books like House of Mystery and numerous horror books, DC blazed a trail in somewhat higher-brow sophisticate horror and supernatural fiction.
Like Haunted Tank...
In the midst of it all, The Spectre straddled the line between Silver Age superhero and the above mentioned horror comic.       

REVIEW: Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham #1

Story: Steve Skeates
Pencils: Mark Armstrong
Inks: Joe Albelo
Colors: Steve Mellor
Review: Madman

I was lucky enough to score the first 9 issues of Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham from one of the many dollar boxes I pawed through at this year’s Kokomo-Con. I’ve always been a fan of Peter Porker books for a couple of reasons; the most obvious being his life mirrors a certain other spectacular super-hero. The other reason being the stories are always light, funny, and overall entertaining.

If you’ve never read a Peter Porker book you might not know that, rather than normal human beings, all the characters are cartoonish anthropomorphs. It probably goes without saying that Peter Porker is a pig, but we’ve J. Jonah Jackal, editor in chief of the Daily Beagle, as…you guessed it…a jackal. The two actually face off against the big bad Ducktor Doom on his secret bad guy island, complete with an army of giant kangaroos and a “fowl” army of evil duck henchmen. I found the evil duck version of Dr. Doom quite amusing and would go so far as to say the he is now my favorite Porker villain.
Ducktor Doom’s dastardly plot was pretty ingenious, if I say so myself. Doom has been using his “tractor beam”, a.k.a. a giant magnet, to capture aircraft passing over his island in order to use them for his “experiments”.       

REVIEW: The Punisher vol. 2 #1

Writer: Christopher Golden and Tom Sniegoshi
Pencils: Bernie Wrightson
Inks:  Jimmy Polmioth
Colors: Brian Haberlin
Letters: Richard Starhings and ComicraftEM
Review: Art Bee

A few weeks ago I made the comment about being a fanboy of Heaven vs Hell storylines, and this treat was waiting for me in the back of a back issue box at my LCS. Finding surprises in boxes at Comics Cubed is one of my favorite things.

This miniseries is titled, “Purgatory”. Frank Castle is back from the dead to find retribution for his many…many sins, a.k.a. vigilante justice. The Punisher finds himself in an earthly war with the forces of Hell. One of the fallen angels, Oliver, was banished from Hell for his crimes against the other fallen and has been killing angels. Killing them and feeding on their divine energy to attain more power and take over Hell. Castle has been given a chance to turn the tides against Oliver as a way to avoid damnation.

This issue is all about setting up the series plot and does a great job of it. We instantly find The Punisher hard at work with a new type of arsenal from page one. His coat seems to produce whatever weapon he needs when he needs it.
That is some vigilante mayhem in leather! The path Castle takes through the issue is one a person would expect to walk if one could return from the dead.
Confusion leads the way and we are along for the ride. This tactic is common in a story like this, and it works well. The part that had me sold was Oliver’s introduction and the part he plays. He is an easy villain to hate. 

REVIEW: Uncanny X-Men #304

Writer: Scott Lobdell
Pencilers: John Romita Jr, Jae Lee, Chris Sprouse, Brandon Peterson, Paul Smith
Inkers: Dan Green, Dan Panosian, Terry Austin, Tom Palmer, Keith Williams
Colorist: Mike Thomas
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Review: Will "Identity Crisis" Dubbeld

Fatal Attractions, pt. 3 of 6

The sweet, sweet 1990s...
EARLY 1990s, mind you. ‘90-‘93, roughly. In the thick of it, the heyday, before hordes of speculators popped the bubble...
The 1990s nearly killed comics for me as a whole, however. Death and Return of Superman, Knightfall, Image’s lackluster titles, and clones, clones, clones soured the medium.
I still kept up with the industry via dearly departed Wizard Magazine and Grant Morrison’s New X-Men drew me back to the hobby.

But all that’s for another time.
Let’s refocus on Fatal Attractions...
Batman probably holds the title for my favorite character, but the Children of the Atom frequently edge out the Dark Knight.
Jean-Paul Valley may have turned me away from Gotham City, but I periodically would check in on Graymalkin Lane. Semi-frequent writing foibles aside, the X-Men are just incredibly fuckin’ cool, and they’re rarely cooler than when Magneto is about. Regardless of what side of the coin he’s on at the time, the Master of Magnetism takes the limelight whenever he shows up.
Jim Lee and Chris Claremont came out of the gate swinging with the relaunched X-Men #1, selling several trillion copies and setting the stage for Fatal Attractions.